Just 1 more life
by Knight Untouchable
Summary: After the passing of Bill the survivors save a young man from a crashed helicopter. Quinn is a stunt man at the peak of his abilities. Perfect new member for the team right? Except for one minor detail. He's Canadian, and Francis is... well... Francis...
1. Chapter 1

Shortly after the passing of Bill the survivors save a young man, Quinn O'Malley, from a crashed helicopter. Quinn is a stunt man in the peak of physical fitness with an extensive background in sword fighting, fire arms, first aid, three martial arts, parkour and free running. Perfect new addition to the team right? Except for one minor detail; he's Canadian. And if there's anything Francis hates more then the military, hospitals, doctors, lawyers, cops, elevators, stares, vans, the woods, small towns, tanks, train yards, or the water, its Canada... Eh.

Chapter One: Impact

The young man opened his eyes, the rain dripping down his long dark hair, and onto his face caused his battered body to lurch back into consciousness. Groaning he rolls over, jolts of agony flashing through his medium sized, but very well build body. Cuts and bruises all over ache as he pulls himself to his knees. Crawling out of what remained of the helicopter that had been air born no less then an hour ago, he blinked into the dark clouds and pouring rain. With blurry vision and weak legs he stumbled out into the open, flashes of memories past seeming more real then the moment he was in now. Memories of working on the film set he had been called to, memories of telling his girlfriend this was his big break, that he would miss her, but this was the movie he'd been made, and waiting for. He walks through the rain, and something runs headlong for him. Blindly, he punches it away, and with it, come more memories, memories of hearing about the green flu scare, memories of the downtown of the city no longer being safe, memories of going to the studio, only to open the doors to wave after wave of infected pouring out. It comes at him a second time, again, he punches it away. As he does, his left leg lurches, and gives way. Falling to the ground, what little remains of what he can see fades to black. He expects whatever it was that was running at him to hit him a third time, but it never comes, replaced by a loud distant bang. Then nothing.

Rain. That's what he could hear next, rain. But it was no longer the downpour he had lost awareness to, it was rain coming down on a roof. Twisting himself slightly, he felt the brush of a sleeping bag wrapped around his shoulders, and opened his eyes to the "A" frame of a building's roof.

"Careful, you're banged up pretty bad mister." a voice from behind him spoke. The young man tilted his head upwards to see a thin man of African decent in a dress shirt and red tie. "I don't know how bad yer hurt but you'll make it worse if you move too quick."

"Where am I?" The young man asked slowly sitting up from the floor, the sleeping bag sliding off him.

"Little town of Rayford, Georgia." The man chuckled. "U-uh, are you sure you should be move'n so soon?" he said eyeing the other man roll over to his knees.

"I'm alright. I look a lot worse then I actually am." He replied crawling out of the bedding.

"Well ya look like ya been dragged through a field o' gravel and rose bushes from the state you're in. I really think you should sit down at least, we're pretty safe here."

"Safe?... what is this place?" The young man stumbled to his feet.

"Just a bridge house. But we raised the bridge so the only thing we really have to worry about is the odd hunter or smoker."

"We?" he asked turning his head to the other man.

"Yeah, I got some friends here to. They're actually the ones who saved you. My leg's a little messed up right now... I-I'm okay, I just can't run to well."

"Ah..." the young man gave a slow sigh steadying himself. "Then I guess I owe you and yours a thank you." He walked a little closer to the other man. "I'm Quinn by the way."

"I'm Louis. Nice to meet'cha." the two men shook hands. "Now why don't you sit down Quinn, you look awfully shaky." Quinn slumped down against the wall to sit next to Louis, and gave a grunt of relaxation as he came to the floor. "You looked half dead when they brought you in. Were you in that helicopter we saw go down?"

"Yeah." Quinn said looking down to the ground. "Just a couple people trying to get some place safer... lost some good friends in that one..."

"Hey, I'm sorry to hear that." Louis said patting him on the shoulder. "We lost a man getting the bridge up... tough old guy named Bill. Were you with your friends a long time after the infection struck?"

"Yeah... Pretty much stuck together after it hit. We were all immunes to." Quinn's head sunk in thought.

"Yeah same here. Hell, me, Bill and the others, we went through so much shit together, a big part of me thought we'd always be okay. Like sure we had some close calls, but we always got through. Seeing Bill die to save us though... well, it really put things in perspective for me." Louis' shoulders sagged as he slumped his head against the wall. A moment of silence passed, it was broken by a series of heavy footsteps moving towards them.

"Who all else is here?" Quinn asked looking to Louis.

"You'll be able to see for yourself in a minute. Hey Francis!" Louis called out to a near by window. A large man, nearly six and a half feet tall, very well built, and covered in tattoos awkwardly stepped through the window frame due to his size. He was in black biking jeans and a leather vest to match.

"Kid's awake huh?" he said looking the young man up and down. "How ya do'n?"

"Alright, all things considered." he replied sliding himself up the wall. "Quinn O'Malley." he ended extending a hand.

"I'm Francis." he replied shaking it, passing a shotgun from one hand to the other to do so.

"Where's Zoey?" Louis asked getting to his feet as well.

"She's come'n." Francis said cocking his head to the window he'd entered through. "Haven't been able to get her off that damn tactical rifle ever since she found it." Three loud bangs cut through the air, echoing as they came. "See?" Francis walked over to the window and stuck his head out just beyond it. "Zoey! Get your ass back in here!"

"Jeez! I'm just picking off some ones that got too close Francis!" A young woman's voice called back.

"You've been do'n that fer the last three hours! There's always ones _too close_!" Francis yelled in return. "Besides, our guest's awake! So get in here before a smoker or somethin' gets 'too close'!"

"Fine!" the young woman called back obviously frustrated. Francis pulled himself back in the window and shook his head. A moment later Zoey clambered in through the window with much more grace then Francis, she was young, looked around late teens to very early twenties, she was just above average height, and had dark hair tied in a pony tail. Quinn stood fixedly staring at her for a moment.

"Hey, I'm Zoey." She paused, looking at him, looking at her. "uh... you alright?"

"Y-yeah-" Quinn stammered. "Sorry. You... remind me of someone... I'm Quinn."

"Zoey. Pleasure." Zoey pulled a large military grade sniper's rifle in with her, it looked very disproportionate to her thin frame, but she didn't move with any kind of awkward stance or shaking as she held it.

Quinn chuckled. "That looks like fun."

"You know it!" Zoey replied with a broad grin shaking some of the rain off it.

"So, what's your story? If you don't mind telling us." Louis asked looking to Quinn.

"Yeah, where ya from?" Francis added sitting down in one of the rooms only chairs.

"Uh, Vancouver, B.C." Quinn replied sitting back down again.

"B.C.? I hate Canada." Francis grumbled looking out the window. Quinn gave him a puzzled and somewhat insulted expression.

"Uh, don't mind him. Francis hates everything for no reason." Zoey said eyeing Quinn's expression.

"Hey! I got damn good reason!" Francis snapped back. "All you _Canucks_ are way to nice for your own good!"

"And how is that a bad thing Francis?" Louis asked raising an eyebrow.

"Let me ask you, how can you live in a town where everyone's a goody two-shoes! You can't get mad at anyone cause they're all so damn nice and forgiving! I'd go crazy in a world where I couldn't get mad at anyone!" Francis crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"Right..." Quinn said with a sympathetic expression.

"Anyway." Louis said trying to bring that conversation to an end. "So you're from the great white north huh? What brought you all the way down here?"

"I'm a stunt man. We were shooting a big action flick called 'Time Crisis'. It had everything, explosions, sword fights, fist fights, gun fights, bar room brawls, you name it, this had it." Quinn slumped. "It was my big break... First feature film I got to work on. I'm a sword fighter by trade so this kinda felt like my calling in life." he took a slow almost pained breath. "I even told my girlfriend all about how I was made for this film... Then the green flu struck, and I'm thousands of miles from her... just feels like everything was for nothing..."

Louis patted his back. "Hey, I heard on some C.E.D.A. broadcasts the virus aint doing so well in colder weather, she's probably okay."

"Yeah, but Vancouver's not that cold. There's actually a lot of states colder then B.C." Quinn gave a pained laugh. "But, you're right. I hope she's okay. She's smart, she'd know what to do. I just really regret having left her for this film, this god awful film." He looked over to Louis and held up three fingers. "Three days. That's how long we got to shoot for. Three days. I was stunting and doubling for one of the leads, and then on the fourth, we all nervously go to work, somehow think'n we'll all be okay and open the studio doors to god only knows how many infected!" Quinn slammed his fist into the floorboards. "And they just kept pouring out, all the cast, all the crew, all the P.A.s, set workers, all of them, all infected..."

"That's harsh." Louis said trying to be comforting.

"How'd you wind up here?" Zoey asked walking over to Quinn and sitting across from him.

"Well, me and some of my fellow stunt guys were immunes. We were all crazy martial artists of some form or another, spent the first two weeks just kicking ass to stay alive. Then we found a military patrol with a helicopter, said they'd take us to New Orleans." Quinn looked up into Zoey's eyes, which seemed odd somehow. "On our way out, a hulk zombie chucked half a car at us, hit the side of the chopper, few hours later somethin' blew up on the side we got hit on, and we dropped like a stone." He raised his arms up, and then let them fall back to his sides. "Here I am." he ended sighing.

"Ya sure no one else made it out?" Francis asked leaning in a little. Quinn found his juxtaposition from mocking Canada to concern over if anyone had survived a little surprising, but non the less he shook his head at him.

"Whole chopper was totalled, I honestly don't know how I still have all my limbs and no broken bones, let alone how I survived that... must'a been just in the right part of the frame as it hit..."

"Yeah, I saw it when we went to rescue you. Chopper was in two or three peaces." Zoey said nodding at him.

"Yeah, and guess who had to carry your ass up a rope ladder when we got ya back here!" Francis grumbled.

"... Thank you?" Quinn said slowly.

"See? Look what I get. A thank you! A reasonable person would'a called me an asshole, or at least a prick for saying something like that! All that northern fresh air in your heads just makes you guys crazy." Francis stood up walked across the room.

"What are you? Five?" Quinn asked.

"Don't worry about him." Louis piped up.

"No promises." Francis replied.

"I was talk'n to Quinn, Francis."

"Oh. Well, whatever." Francis stared out the window at the rain.

"So what kind of skill set does a Canadian stunt man come with?" Zoey said taking an interest. "Got any kick-ass moves?" she ended making punching motions in the air.

"I'm a master of European swordplay, and three martial arts." Quinn smiled weakly.

"Really?" Zoey gleefully squealed. "What do you know?"

"Kick boxing, ti-quan-do, and Kung fu. I know quite a bit of european wrestling, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Some first aid to."

"You know proper first aid?" Louis grinned.

"Yeah. Kinda comes with the territory of getting hurt for a living."

"Really? If I give ya five bucks can I hit ya?" Francis chuckled.

"Francis!" Louis grumbled, Zoey laughed. "Seriously though, that's great! I told you guys I had a good feeling about this guy when you brought him in didn't I?"

"Yeah." Zoey and Francis said in unison, Zoey said it with a great deal more positivity then Francis to say the least.

"How bout just every time you say 'eh'? Can I hit you then?" Francis seamed unwilling to leave the earlier conversation. Louis let out a heavy sigh.

"Sure Francis. Every time I say _that_-" Quinn added with a smirk of cunning. "-you can try to hit me."

Francis grumbled and turned back to the window.

"Its probably best if you don't pay him any mind." Zoey whispered.

"Its alright, I think I'm already getting used to him." Quinn said with a small grin working its way onto his face.

_More chapters on the way! Feel free to give me any feed back on my writing style, what you thought of the story, all that good stuff. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Pull Your Weight

The following morning Quinn awoke with a green sleeping bag draped on top of him. He studied it with sleepy eye's, he was certain he'd fallen asleep under the blue one he'd first awoken to last time. He sat up and lifted it closer to his eyes with one hand.

"Zoey was worried you're sleeping bag was damp and might make ya catch cold." Louis said watching him inspect it. "So she gave ya hers when she woke up."

"Oh. That was nice. Remind me to thank her." Quinn scratched the side of his head and tugged some knots out of his hair.

"Hungry?" Louis turned from a box and tossed him a nectarine and a granola bar.

"Thanks." Quinn said catching both with one hand, much to Louis' surprise, amusement, and amazement. Quinn unwrapped the granola bar, and crunched a large bite out of the nectarine.

"Sorry, guess I should'a warned ya they aren't quite ripe yet." Louis chuckled listening Quinn's loud chewing of the fruit.

"Nah, it's alright. That's how I like 'em. It's more like eating an apple." Quinn replied digging in to the energy bar. "Where'd ya get these?" he enquired through a mouth full of both.

"There's a grocery store a few blocks away, most of the food was rotten, but we found a few boxes o' stuff in the back that were either still frozen or good to go." Louis said pointing at several boxes in a corner. "Don't know if we'll be going back there any time soon though."

"Why not?" Quinn asked tilting his head to him.

"Well, the last time we went there, Zoey and Francis really had to watch me. We got a few boxes as I said but on the way back... a hunter almost got me." Louis let out a frustrated sigh looking down at himself. "If my leg weren't so damn messed up we would have been fine. Right now I'm just a damn liability."

"Hey, come on, don't say that." Quinn said spinning to orient himself with Louis. "You're an immune, and I haven't even known you for twenty-four hours and I can tell you're a good guy. Anyone with those assets sure as hell aint a liability." Louis gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Why don't you eat something as well?"

"Cause'" Louis chuckled. "You're eat'n the last of it." Quinn abruptly stopped chewing and jolted into a wide eyed stare at Louis. "What?" He asked laughing at him. "I'll bet the last time you ate was ages before you even got into that helicopter."

"Well... yeah, but..." Quinn stammered.

"But nothin'" Louis said waiving a hand. "You needed it more then I did. Besides, Zoey and Francis already ate."

"What about you though? You need proper nutrition, especially if you're on the mend."

"You're on the mend to tough guy. A Witch got friendly with me, you took a helicopter and the ground at thirty miles an hour to the face." Louis smirked.

"Louis, I'm a stuntman, I get the shit kicked out of me for a living. I-I mean not that I'm not grateful, I really am, I'm just - little surprised." Quinn stammered.

"Well Quinn, I got a good feeling about you, and I can tell you're a reasonable guy to. I think we'll be helping each other out a lot in the future." All Quinn could do was look at Louis' beaming smile, and feel more then a little guilty about the food he was chewing on. Heavy foot steps came from behind them again and Francis soon reappeared.

"Hey!" He growled as soon as he saw Quinn eating. "That's the last of our food!"

"I know Francis, I gave it to him." Louis said rolling his eyes. "Did you want him to starve to death?"

"No." Francis bore down on Quinn. "But the one thing I can't stand more then a Canadian, is a free loader! We worked hard to get that, and we nearly lost Louis do'n it!"

"He told me." Quinn murmured quietly looking at the granola bar.

"With things how they are now, if you wanna stick with us, _you _gotta pull your own weight! Or else!" Francis made a threatening gesture with his fist.

"Francis, he just survived a helicopter crash! We can't ask him to go running around in his state with all the infected out there!" Louis stood up as he spoke.

"No." Quinn said before Francis or Louis could get a word in. "Francis is right. You've done a lot for me already." Quinn stood up, eyeing both of the other men on either side of him. "And I'll repay you in full. One thing I'm sure as hell not, is a free loader. I'll find ya food, and anything else out there we can use."

Francis gave a snort. "That's all well and good -and-mighty, but for one thing ya aint got a weapon-"

"I'll find one." Quinn jutted in. Francis raised an angry eyebrow.

"-And second of all, as much as I'd like to leave ya, you can't go out there alone, and someone's gotta make sure Louis stays safe."

"I'll stay. You two can go out, the infected don't seem to gathered today." Zoey said from behind stepping in through the window.

"What? But Zoey!" Francis glared at her. "Louis?" He grumbled looking to him.

"Perfect." Quinn said walking to the window.

"But-" Francis griped.

"Its fine Francis. Go get to know Quinn a little better. Maybe you'll like him after a while.

"Don't count on it." he replied eyes narrowing.

"You coming?" Quinn's voice called, he was already outside.

"Off to a great start." Francis grumbled.

_And there you have it! Chapter two!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Better Then Nothing

Francis threw the rope ladder that was now the only way down from their safe house, Quinn flew down it in no time, soon followed by Francis.

"So, have you given any thought to the fact you have no weapon? Or are you the kinda guy who runs in without think'n?"

"There are few situations I run into without thinking Francis, and jumping into a neighbourhood crawling with a sea of infected is not one of them." Quinn replied walking over to a railing, it was bent out of shape and torn from a car careening into it. "You learn how to keep yourself safe pretty quick as a stunt man, and I don't doubt that in the near future-" Quinn placed his hands on the railing, heaving in a wickedly fast motion he ripped off a three foot length of piping. "-you'll come to see what a cautious fellow I am."

"A bit of pipe?" Francis said in a tone of voice suggesting Quinn's grip on reality was quite pathetic. "You're gonna fight the infected with a pipe?"

"Better then nothing." Quinn shrugged resting it on his shoulder. Francis shook his head.

"You know I'm not one to complain-" Quinn suppressed the urge to laugh upon hearing that. "-but if you get yourself killed, that leaves me out here all alone, and that's not a position I wanna get stuck in."

"Well, let's just keep each other alive then." Quinn said walking forward.

"Please do! And be careful out there boys! I'll be watching ya as best I can!" Zoey said reeling up the rope ladder. Quinn and Francis called back something similar to each other, both beginning with "Don't worry about" but where Quinn ended with "us, we'll be fine." Francis ended with "me, I'll be fine." Both men eyed each other, and set off in opposite directions.

"Hey, the store's this way." Francis said pointing away from Quinn.

"I wanna check something first." He replied without stopping.

"Crazy son of a..." Francis mumbled traipsing after him. The two of them soon came to the wreckage of the crashed helicopter. Quinn walked up slowly, scanning the inside. He suppressed a shudder and pulled his head away from the wreckage.

"What are ya look'n for?" Francis asked raising his arms at him.

"Just hoping for something better to fight with, but..." Quinn was choking back horrified emotion. "... everything's burned inside." Past Quinn's shoulder Francis suddenly noticed the chard remains of a skeleton inside the remnants of the helicopter.

"Why don't we move on? The store's this way anyway." Francis said pointing away.

"Yeah... part of me was just still hoping for-AH!" Quinn pointed off to his left. "Hello you beauty!" He ran over to what Francis soon realized was a slightly singed but very large hunting knife. "This is more like it!"

"Yeah, keep this rate up every ten minutes you might even find a gun in a few hours..." Francis rested his shotgun on his shoulder. Quinn sighed.

"Yeah... That way ya say huh?" Quinn asked pointing and slowly walking in the direction he had pointed in earlier. The two of them strode off, Francis with shotgun in hand, and Quinn with his pipe and knife held by his sides.

"I still think you're crazy for thinking you can fight like that." Francis said without looking at him. "You gonna be able to handle a smoker if one pops up or am I gonna have to watch your oak leaf ass?"

"Firstly Francis,-" Quinn began. "-the _maple _leaf is the Canadian national symbol, and secondly I got out of Philadelphia with nothing but four fellow stunties, and my bear hands. I can handle a smoker if one or more 'pops' up."

"You know what, I don't even care about your national plant or whatever, I hate leaves, and me Zoey, Louis and Bill walked out of Farefield by ourselves, just the four of us."

"Good for you, and my condolences to your lost man." A beat passed between them. "Good guy I take it?" Quinn tilted his head slightly to Francis.

"Well, he was old, and cranky, didn't listen much, and his beard smelled bad, always had something to say about Vietnam, or something something horse shit, and..." Francis suddenly realized Quinn was giving him a rather disturbed expression.

"Ever heard of not speaking ill of the dead?"

Francis sighed. "But he was a good guy. Tough old buzzard, saved the group almost as many times as I have, and gave his life to keep us alive."

Quinn nodded. "Good guy. Outta my crew-" Francis suddenly threw his arm out and stopped Quinn at his chest.

"Hold that thought." he said bringing his hand back to his shotgun. A zombie came barrelling round a corner and he shot it dead but a few feet from them. Quinn suddenly realized there was one that had been slumped behind a car right next to him. He spun and clocked it perfectly in the side of the head with his pipe segment, it instantly stopped moving. Francis was surprised at how quickly Quinn could move with such a cumbersome, heavy weapon. He didn't have much time to reflect on it however as a mob of infected started sprinting at them. "Where the hell'd all o' them come from?" he shouted firing into the crowd.

"Zoey said they were being quiet today! Maybe they just knew better then to be in range of her rifle?" Quinn replied kicking a zombie and bringing his pipe down on its head with both hands, he had stuck the knife on his belt for when he really needed it. The two of them soon saw many more infected coming from all sides, and the growling of a hunter.

"Aw, shit!" Francis continued firing. "This is gonna get messy!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: A Canadian Ass Kicking

Quinn whipped the knife out he had put away only moments ago and neatly cut the throat of an on coming infected. Dozens came at them, Francis shredded many away with blasts from his automatic shotgun. Quinn was busy cutting, ducking, beating, kicking, punching and slashing his way at them, he was going through just about every Eskrima move he knew with the pipe and knife.

"We gotta get outta here! We need cover!" Quinn shouted.

"Try that building! Reloading!" Francis shouted, now hitting infected away with the butt of his shotgun while trying to load shells into it.

"Too far right now! Try that car!" Quinn made an upward slash, and in a display of his skill performed a back hand spring and kicked an infected as he was upside down. Francis ploughed his way through the horde and leaped for the car's door praying it was unlocked-it opened. He jumped inside and locked it, readying the rear driver side door for Quinn, who spun into a butterfly twist knocking a zombie aside and dove through it. The infected started mobbing around the car and it began shaking and rocking violently.

"Um, alright finish this sentence: Now that we're in here we will..." Quinn said eyeing all the sides of the car, not one was free of at least twelve infected.

"Half a minute." Francis replied cooly loading the last few shells into his gun. Windows started to smash in the car.

"We may not have that long!" Quinn shouted kicking clutching arms away. Francis scuttled over to the passenger side window which had been broken and had about five zombies simultaneously trying to get in through it. At point blank he fired his gun just before the window, a cone of infected fell back dead. He slid another shell in his gun, opened the latch, and kicked the door open.

"Time to go! Move it canuck!" He shouted shooting and running for a near by department store. Quinn vaulted into the front seats and dashed after him, cutting a zombie's neck so fast he actually severed its head in the process.

Francis shoulder checked a zombie and sent it flying through the glass door of the shop, gunning it down shortly after. "FRANCIS!" Quinn bellowed from behind him, he turned round expecting to see him needing help, instead, he was met practically face to face with a hunter. It leaped before he could fire, he did manage to catch its claws with the body of his gun before it could tear him to peaces, but he was now flat on his back with a hunter on top of him, and a horde of zombies behind that. Suddenly the tip of a knife came through the hunter's collar bone. Quinn dove in a half twisting flip over both of them and smashed the hunter in the side of the head so hard it practically flew off him. Quinn then dove for the doorway holding the infected back with outstretched arms at the end of his pipe and knife. Francis got to his feet and took aim at the door.

"Move!" He shouted.

"All yours!" Quinn shouted back, dive-rolling backwards. Unleashing a barrage of shotgun fire Francis cut down the line of infected as if they were twigs before a chainsaw.

"Aw, shit!" Quinn yelled behind him.

"What?" Francis asked loading several shells as fast at he could.

"I got it, keep holding the front!" Quinn cut down a zombie and flew into a flying front kick slamming a door behind them shut, the building had infected inside it as well. Quinn started stabbing through the door while holding it down with his shoulder. Suddenly the two of them heard a great crash. Between the fighting the two looked at each other. The crashing came again, followed by yelling, and thumping that was getting drastically closer. "Please that's not a-" Quinn managed before the door he was bracing suddenly exploded into splinters, sending him flying. In the door frame was now a massive zombie with arms so huge they reached to the ground. "-Shit!" Quinn kipped to his feet in a fighting stance.

"TANK!" Francis bellowed turning to fire on it, there were almost no infected left out front by this point. Both of them ran out the door as the tank gave chase, completely smashing the frame as it ploughed through. The two of them ran as fast as they could, taking out a few zombies along the way.

"Okay, _now _a gun would be nice!" Quinn said glancing back at the tank.

"Told ya!" Francis and Quinn dove behind a small wall. The car they had hid in earlier sailed over top, just missing their heads as it crashed down in front of them, skidding away on its roof into a parked truck. As it did, something shiny caught Quinn's eye. Francis stood up and started firing again. "I say we b-line it back and get Zoey and Louis on this thing's case!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Quinn jumped over to what was glinting behind the car. "Are you joking me..." he murmured.

"Hey! You gonna help!" Francis yelled firing the last round in his shotgun. As he did the tank came over the wall, it advanced on him until a pipe - Quinn's pipe - hit it just above its left eye socket. It roared in primal fury at Quinn, who was now holding a gleaming, large Katana in his hands.

"I've got it's attention, reload!" He shouted as it advanced on him.

"Are you crazy?" Francis shouted.

"A few people would say so. Hey! Hey!" He replied yelling at the tank. "Here! Here! Here! Me! Me!" Quinn clanged the back of his katana against the flat of his knife trying to keep the tank's focus off Francis – which worked, it came running at him. Quinn sheathed his knife to take the katana in both his hands. The tank was practically on top of him in no time, making a smashing motion with its arm. Quinn tricked it into thinking he was rolling to his right, when he suddenly pulled back, and triangle stepped to his left once he saw it had committed to its blow. As he whipped past he slashed into its right elbow, it was like trying to cut living concrete. It did next to nothing other then make the tank more angry, but as it turned on him a barrage of shotgun fire tore into its back as Francis unloaded everything the gun had to unleash. As the tank turned to Francis, Quinn took advantage of the situation and sliced through its knee, unlike its elbow this obviously did some damage, as the tanks own weight made its injured knee buckle out. It stumbled to one side, Quinn impaled it between its ribs all the way down to his katana's Tsuba. He instantly pulled it out as soon as he had however, he knew that wasn't anywhere near enough to kill a tank. It doubled up slightly getting back on its working leg, Quinn saw its back was carpeted in shotgun wounds from Francis, the tank was worse off then he thought.

"Heads up!" Francis called as he unloaded another barrage of shells into the tank. Quinn jumped back and dropped into Jodan, a high guard in Kendo. As soon as Francis ran out of shells he leaped forward and caught the tank in its other knee, managing to sever almost all the tendons in it. The tank started crawling around on its arms, slamming them into the ground with each step. Francis had just finished reloading and lined up his shots with the tank's head. It tried to cover its face as it crawled, but it failed to do so more often then not. Quinn leaped onto its back from a running start and began stabbing it around its neck as fast as he could. The tank thrashed around trying to grab him or get him off, but with its legs next to useless it couldn't actually level itself well enough to get at him, and Quinn's sense of balance, honed through over a decade of gymnastics, martial arts, and free running was more then a match for its wild thrashing. With one last final strike, landing somewhere around its brain stem, the tank paused, giving a groan, and a sickening series of shivers before slumping to the ground. Quinn stood up on its back and shook the blood off his blade looking to Francis, who was shaking his head at him.

"You are insane." he said putting a final shell back into his gun. "You jumped on top of a tank."

"That my friend is what we up north like to call: 'An ass kicking'." Quinn stepped off the tank.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get full of yourself. Ya got lucky."

"That was lucky actually, that was probably the easiest fight with a tank I've ever had. Never taken out both the legs of one's so fast." Quinn looked at his katana, the blade was still in remarkable shape. "This was a seriously lucky find."

"I was wondering where that went." Francis said taking a step forward.

"Huh?"

"Louis was using that for when he was out of bullets. Lost it when a hunter pounced him the last time we came through here... must 'o rolled under that truck the car was thrown into." Francis inspected the butt of the sword. "Yup, that's the one."

"Where the hell did you guys find a fully functional katana?" Quinn held it in both hands. "I can tell this thing's old, but its in great shape, probably never been used till now. Very well made to, it'd be worth three to five grand on an open market."

Francis' eye perked at the mention of three to five grand. "Zoey found it in an old crate on a ship we passed. There were three inside, we only took this one though. I'm more of a shotgun man myself so I didn't bother."

"Should'a took 'em. Never hurts to have something like this on hand." Quinn said shaking some of the rain off it.

"Swords get blunt." Francis said resting his gun on his shoulder.

"Guns only hold so many bullets." Quinn said giving him an eyebrow. "Like I said, never hurts to be prepared."

"Yeah, on that thought." Francis said following him. "Let's find you a gun before your luck runs out."

Quinn sighed. "How much farther to this store?"

"Three or four blocks. I still think you're crazy for jumping on a tank by the way. Sounds like a one way ticket to hell."

"Wasn't the first time I've done it..." A small smirk worked its way onto Quinn's face.

"Canadians..." Francis murmured walking after him.

"I heard that."

"Good! Maybe I can talk some sense into you before you try out jumping a hunter or something!" All Quinn could do was laugh as the two of them strode away into the rain.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Well Alright

Zoey scanned the town in the direction Francis and Quinn had disappeared though the scope of her rifle. Taking it down for a moment to wipe a rain drop from her eyebrow she let out a slightly nervous sigh, she was certain she'd heard a tank yelling from where they'd gone to.

"Any sign of them?" Louis called from down below.

"Nothing yet." She replied. "What are we at?"

"Forty-seven minutes!" He called back after a pause. Zoey nodded half biting her lip. "I'm sure they're okay Zoey, that's probably around the time we took. I'll bet they'll be coming around the corner any minute."

"Yeah..." She said slowly. "Hey wait a minute... I can see them!" She grinned with her eye to the scope peace.

Louis let out a laugh. "Alright! I knew they'd be okay!"

Zoey's face suddenly became drastically more serious. "Oh shit..." She muttered.

"What? What's wrong?" Louis called looking from Zoey to where Francis and Quinn had left. She didn't immediately reply, instead she fired her rifle... once... twice, three, and then four times.

"Louis." She said looking down to him. "You might wanna throw the ladder down."

"SON OF A BITCH!" Francis screamed as he ran at full pelt from a horde of infected just behind them. He had two large boxes under both his arms and some plastic bags tied to his belt. "'THE INFECTED DON'T SEEM TO GATHERED TODAY' MY ASS!"

"FUNNY! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!" Quinn had bags on his belt as well as a large burlap sack with a camping pop-corn cooker resting on one shoulder, his katana in the other hand. Shortly there after he heard a bullet wiz past his head. "Hey! I think Zoey's helping us out!"

"Bout damn time! Louis better have that god-damn ladder down or I'm gonna kill 'em!" The two of them pelted down the roadway while Zoey continued to pick away at the horde behind them. As they came up they saw Louis above the ladder waving at them.

"Thank god!" Quinn shouted shooting a glance behind them. "Alright, you get up the ladder with as much of this crap as you can carry! I'll keep them off your back! And while you're up there tell Zoey to keep any god-damn smokers off my ass!"

"Ten-four!" Francis yelled back. As they came close to the safe house he dropped the first box by the base of the ladder and shouted: "LOUIS!" Throwing the second one up to him, which he just managed to catch. Quinn dropped his burlap sack and hurriedly took the plastic bags off his belt. Without loosing a beat he turned on his heals and charged back at the horde. Right as Louis had placed the first box down Francis tossed him the second one. With a roar Quinn dropped the closest infected to him with a downwards slash, spinning into a horizontal cut that took out four or five more. Zoey jumped down to the balcony Louis was on to get better shots on the horde. "GET THAT ROPE!" Francis yelled tossing the last few plastic bags up to him. Louis reached inside the house and pulled out a nylon cord which he tossed down to him. Zoey fired round after round into the masses of zombies as Quinn relentlessly cut into any of them that came close to him, she couldn't help but marvel at how fast he was, and how ferociously he brought them down as she reloaded. Quinn had yet to be so much as touched by any of the infected, but he was slowly losing ground towards Francis.

"How much longer?" He yelled Spartan kicking a zombie to the ground.

"Last bag!" Francis called back finishing a knot on it. "Okay! Go! Go!"

Louis strained a little heaving the bag up, Francis started climbing up the rope ladder helping push up as he went.

"Five or six seconds, then get back up here!" Zoey yelled down to Quinn.

"Got it!" Quinn decapitated an infected and took out the knees of a second in one motion, right as he looked up into the face of a leaping Jockey.

"SHIT!" He yelled trying to back up when its head suddenly twitched to a funny angle and bounced of his shoulder... Zoey had shot it out of the air. He gave her a glance, and then bolted for the ladder. Quinn hit the ladder in a jump and started scampering up it as fast as he could with three limbs thanks to the katana. As he was no more then a few feet up a female zombie leaped up and grabbed him around his waist, causing the ladder to sway a great deal. Zoey was still firing at the ones below him but there wasn't much she could do about the one clinging to him, not without risking hitting him as well. Despite the added weight, and violent swinging Quinn managed a desperate crawl all the way to the top of the ladder, and threw his katana onto the platform everyone was on. Louis and Francis grabbed his arms to help pull him in, Quinn had been kicking at the infected the whole way up, but he wanted to get above a point where more infected could jump on him, which he now was. The zombie had slipped a bit and was now clinging to his belt. Zoey dashed over and started stomping on its head as Quinn's waste reached the balcony. With a final strong kick she got it off him, and started firing down the opening.

"Get the ladder up!" She yelled. Louis, Francis and Quinn started reeling the ladder in as Zoey shot off any infected that tried climbing it. As the last rung came over the railing Quinn and Francis slumped back panting heavily.

"Ho... ly... shit." Francis panted.

"I second that." Quinn said nodding.

"You guys okay?" Louis asked looking to both.

"Oh yeah." Quinn gave a thumb up.

"Course." Francis waved a hand.

"That was close... I'll give it that."

"Hey Quinn, your friend survived the fall." Zoey said looking over the railing at the swirling mob of infected. Quinn stood up and looked down to see the zombie that had jumped him was still running around with the rest of them.

"Je-sus." He half laughed.

"Guess she saw a little somethin' somethin' she liked in you huh?" Louis joked trying to cheer him up.

Quinn scoffed. "Well I'll give her she was eager alright. Just about took my pants off." he finished adjusting his belt. Everyone let out a hearty laugh, Quinn liked it, despite the fact he'd nearly died just there, it was great hearing something as simple as people laughing again.

"So what'd you guys get? Pop-corn?" Louis asked lifting up the camping cooker.

"Not quite. More fruit, water, juice, energy bars and a shit load of frozen goodies." Quinn said turning round and grinning.

"What's the cooker for then?"

"These." Francis said removing a frozen pizza from one of the boxes that had been thrown earlier. "Figured it was worth a shot." he ended smiling.

"Oh my god." Zoey said eyeing the pizza. "Last time I had that was weeks before the infection even struck."

"Well then, what'da say we fire up a burning barrel and fix that." Quinn smiled.

"Sounds like a damn find plan to me!" Everyone set about pulling everything inside as Francis set up a barrel. Snapping some broken floorboards over his knee he lit it with a small splash of gasoline and a match.

"Charming." Quinn grinned as it went up in flames.

"Hey, it aint the Ritz." Francis replied.

"But its home." Louis smiled.

"Home..." Quinn murmured looking to the window, thoughts of his home, thousands of miles away, and the single most important person in his life, waiting for him back there drifted through his head.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: The Gravity of Reality

That night all four of them sat near the barrel with broken floorboards burning away as Francis roasted peaces of frozen pizza over top in the cernal cooker.

"This is awesome." Zoey nommed through a mouthful of pizza. "Its like camping, only weirdly cooler for some reason."

"Its kinda like that fantasy you have as a kid where you wanna go camping in your living room, only now there aren't parents yelling 'no!'." Quinn replied. Everyone was in good spirits and laughed and joked to the smell of pizza cooking throughout the evening.

"I'm stuffed... well... maybe one more peace. Should I?" Zoey asked looking into the flames.

"Might as well. Its not gonna stay frozen forever, sooner we eat all this the better probably." Quinn said taking a sip of orange juice from his plastic cup.

"Well I wanna thank you guys again for hauling all this back here." Louis said patting his stomach. "I needed that."

"No prob-blamo." Francis replied. "Although you might wanna extend your search a bit farther before you say the coast is clear next time Zoe."

"I told you, everything was clear for as far as I could see in the scope!" she retaliated.

"Yeah, yeah." he said batting a hand at her.

"Mmm." Quinn swallowed the final peace of his fifth pizza slice. "Thanks again for taking care of that Jockey before it got to me."

"No problem. I was amazed that shot was as good as it was actually."

"It was damn perfect is what it was. Really saved my bacon on that one Zoey, don't let me forget." Quinn had an honestly thankful gaze on his face.

"She won't." Francis laughed as she punched him in the shoulder.

"Also I'd like to thank you Louis, for dropping this." Quinn pulled up the katana marvelling at it.

"I was wondering where that had come from. I still have the sheath for that somewhere in here." Louis grinned laughing

Quinn laughed as well. "That'd be awesome to have! Carrying would be a hell of a lot easier. Oh on that note, I've been meaning to ask, what are you guys planing on doing after your leg's healed?" he ended motioning at Louis with the butt of the katana. "I don't imagine you plan on camping here indefinitely."

Everyone else paused for a moment. "We were gonna try and get a sail boat and head to the Florida Keys. We had a boat ready but it started washing down to the ocean when we got the bridge up... something must'a cut the line..."

"Oh, that's a bummer. Not gonna try for New Orleans? Military bases out that way must be pretty well equipped. That's where I was headed hoping I could get a ticket back up north somehow." Everyone went quiet. "Did I say something offensive?" he asked after a beat.

"No. Its just..."

"What?" Quinn shrugged.

"We ran into the military on the way here." Francis spoke up. "Next thing we knew they'd locked us up, and tried to kill us."

"What?" Quinn blurted. "But you're immunes! Why the hell would the army be wanting to lock up and kill immunes?"

"We're not immunes Quinn..." Zoey whispered.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're immunes, Francis got attacked with me, and you guys have to b-"

"Quinn." Louis broke in. "We're not immunes... and neither are you." Quinn looked speechless and slightly angered.

"We're 'carriers'." Francis said taking a peace of pizza off the fire.

"We're infected like everything else out here, but for whatever reason we're not exhibiting any symptoms of the disease..." Zoey said looking down.

"I'm sorry Quinn." Louis murmured. Quinn stammered for words, to the point of it looked like he was hyperventilating.

"B-b-but... No! That can't be true! How can green flu be turning people into monsters like smokers and tanks and do nothing to someone else? That's bullshit! I don't believe it!" Quinn threw the katana down to his side.

"Quinn. Calm down." Louis tried to say as relaxingly as possible.

"Bull-I cant'-No! Noway! I don't believe it, that can't be true!" Quinn stood up and bolted out to the balcony, shouting to himself.

"Quinn!" Louis called after him. He disappeared towards the roof. "Quinn!" Louis strained his legs and stood up.

"Hang on." Zoey said putting a hand on his chest. "Take it easy on that leg, I'll try to talk to him."

Louis paused and nodded an: "Alright."

"Don't get pounced." Francis said as she walked out where Quinn had disappeared. She climbed up and found him sitting on the roof towards the north wall, on his knees. She pulled herself up and walked slowly and gently to him.

"Hey." She whispered putting a hand on his shoulder and sitting down next to him.

"Hey." He replied weakly after a small sniff and a pause. "I'm sorry about that, just..."

"Its okay." She said patting his back. "I was pretty damn pissed when I found out to."

"I'm not just angry, I'm sad..." Quinn sniffed once again, and wiped a solitary tear from his eye. "Its just I... I had..." He stammered.

"Its alright, let it out, take your time." Zoey rubbed his shoulder.

Quinn slowly drew a deep breath looking out into the rain. "I had seven people from the film set I travelled with... five were some of my best friends..." He began with a heavy sigh. "Three of them died fighting in the first two weeks... one in the third... another we lost getting to the helicopter... and the rest I lost in the crash." He took a pained breath through his nose. "It just sucks you know... it -ing sucks shit knowing that they all died running to a salvation that was never there in the first place!"

Zoey put her arm around him. "There was no way you could have know Quinn, and its not your fault they died. Its those monsters out there on the streets you have to blame, not you."

Quinn didn't look at her. "You know what the worst part is? Since all this began... the one thing I've wanted, is to just go home... see Sarah... I love her, and I miss her so much... and the day I had to fight my way out of the studios with everyone, I swore... I swore no matter what happened, I wasn't gonna let them kill me... there was no way I was gonna let them take me away from her..." His hands formed into fists. "But now they have..." Tears began freely flowing from his eyes. "If I'm carrying the disease and she's not a... I wouldn't be able to live with myself... knowing she'd become infected because of me..." Quinn crumpled in on himself. "... So they have taken me from her... I'm still breathing to know it..." Quinn broke down into deep sobbing.

"... I'm sorry Quinn... I'm so sorry." Zoey whispered.

Quinn tilted his head up to look into her eyes, his weeping subsided slightly. "I was gonna buy a ring after this with the money from the shoot... and this spring I was gonna propose to her... I don't even think all of that's hit me yet... its just... not fare..."

Zoey tightened her grip on him a little. "That's terrible Quinn, no other way to say it." She sighed. "We all have that pain... of thinking we were running to salvation... Bill probably wouldn't be dead if we'd known. We've all had big losses. Francis had to gun down a love interest, Louis had to fight off a lot of his former friends at his office... and... my father got bit... and I had to shoot him." Quinn looked her in the eyes shocked. "And the worst part of that is after we were captured by the military, we found out the carrier gene runs in the fathers side... so for the rest of my life, however long that is, I'm gonna have to live with the fact I might not have had to shoot him..."

"Jesus Christ..." Quinn murmured.

"I know it seems like the end of the world, it may very well be." Zoey said relaxing her hand. "But whatever happens Quinn, you're not alone." She looked softly into his eyes. "A doctor I met said: 'we carriers might be the only hope the human race has left.' and I believe him. Only way that's gonna change is if a cure is found."

Quinn nodded and looked up into the sky. "Well..." He said slowly. "Its still raining and kinda cold out here."

"Yeah." Zoey got to her feet. "Let's head back inside. Finish the last of that pizza hm?"

Quinn gave a short smile and got to his feet. Zoey patted him on the back as they came to the stairs to the balcony. Francis and Louis were just outside the windows.

"You guys okay?" Francis asked with his arms crossed.

"We were about to come up to see if you were alright." Louis responded in toe.

"Well _he _was anyway." Francis nosed at him.

"We're fine." Zoey said as they came down.

"Ya alright tough guy?" Louis looked sympathetically to Quinn. "You know I was thinking, if we can find the supplies we might be able to get ya a second boat, or we could even come with ya, sail ya up towards Newfoundland. I know that's the other side of the country for ya, but from there if the cold weather is nailing the infected you might be able to-"

"Thanks Louis, I appreciate the offer..." Quinn cut in before he could finish. "But enough people have died trying to get me to a home that isn't even mine anymore." Louis looked dumbfounded. "Eat some fruit, and get that juice down you. More vitamins ya get the faster your leg will knit." Quinn shook some water off his hand and looked Louis in the eyes. "As soon as you're back at a hundred percent, I'm gonna help you find that boat, and then I'm making sure you guys reach the Florida Keys."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Unwelcome Morning

Early the next morning Louis awoke to a sound... a rhythmic sound... it was steadily getting louder. He lifted his head up from his sleeping bag's pillow, the sun was just coming up, he could see the first few orange beams of light coming in through the windows. "Rain must have stopped" he thought to himself, which to his freshly awakened, and sleepy head made sense, but the noise was puzzling. He looked to Zoey as she blinked awake and peered at one of the windows, keeping her sleeping bag under her chin.

"What is that?" She said sleepily.

"I'm not sure. I just woke up to." As soon as he said that a long low screeching sound cut through the air. Quinn awoke and placed his hand on his katana. A loud metallic bang ended the screech, at that Francis rolled over with a mumble that sounded like; "Screw off Louis. Sleeping." Before he sat upright.

"The hell was that?" Zoey said dashing to the window, seeming to forget she was only in her white t-shirt and underwear. She lifted the blinds and looked from one side to the other, a shorter screech came again. "Its coming from the water."

"Can you see what it is?" Louis asked pulling his shirt on and buttoning it up.

"No." Zoey shook her head still looking out the window.

"Sounded like forty garbage trucks unloading at the same time." Quinn said pulling his jeans on and looking out the window beside Zoey.

"I think its coming from the north." Zoey said pointing to their left.

"Your relatives coming to visit Quinn?" Francis said grinning. "Wouldn't be surprised if that's them coming down the freeway not knowing how to drive without snow."

"I'd like to see your relatives try to drive _in _snow Francis." Quinn retaliated. "Probably wouldn't be this quiet."

Zoey shooshed both of them before they could continue, it was hardly necessary as another loud crash came through the air. "Its a ship." She whispered.

"With no one at the helm from the sounds of things." Quinn nodded.

"I still can't see it, but I think its coming on our side of the bank-" Zoey suddenly came to a terrible realization. "Oh shit!" She yelled running back to her red jacket and throwing it on.

"What's got a hair up your a-"

"The noise Francis! The noise of all that is gonna bring every infected in a twenty mile radius down on us!" The three men in the room looked at each other for a brief moment and then dashed to their belongings. Francis readied his shotgun and grabbed as much food as he could, Louis tucked a pistol into his leg holster and threw his shoes on as Quinn slid the sheath of his katana through his belt and tied his shoes quickly.

"Should we just park on the bridge and just try to wait 'em out like last time?" Francis asked looking out a window.

"Let's head there for now at least!" Louis said slowly getting out through the window to the balcony. As everyone else piled out along with him Quinn slowly paused, looking to the north.

"What's wrong?" Zoey asked looking at him.

"There's hardly any infected coming this way..." He replied slowly looking down. The others followed his gaze, and there were indeed very few. "Now... if there's this much noise, but few coming from this direction..."

Zoey took a step forward. "What do you think is the probability of, say, this ship is coming from the _south_ and what we're hearing is the echo up the water right now?"

"A hundred percent!" Francis shouted behind them. "Its a cargo tanker, and its headed straight for the bridge!" Louis looked to see him pointing at a large fraiter ship bouncing off the banks and other ships.

"Shit! Its gonna hit the bridge!" Louis shouted.

"Then let's get out of here before it does! That's gonna make for one hell of a dinner bell for the zombies when they connect!" Zoey bolted for the rope ladder and tossed it down. Francis went down first, followed by Zoey, and Quinn helped Louis down as best as he could.

"Get to the riverbank! That's probably our safest bet!" Zoey said running along side the building they had descended from, Francis just behind her. Quinn helped Louis along, acting as a crutch for his injured leg. Zoey came up to the bushes that served as a fence between the building and riverbank before firing a shot down the ally on the other side of her.

"Come on boys! They're starting to gather!" She ended jumping though the bush with a soft thud as she landed on the muddy sand of the bank.

"That thing's aiming straight for us!" Francis yelled jumping after her.

Quinn looked to see the massive ship pointing straight for the bridge, they didn't have much time. He hopped over, and as soon as Louis was down he turned his back to him and knelt slightly.

"Louis, jump on." He finished making his hands into a cradle.

"What are you doing?" Francis yelled looking back at them. "We gotta move!"

"What? But Quinn I'll-"

"We don't have time for you to limp Louis, now come on! I'm stronger then I look." Louis cautiously slid his wounded leg through Quinn's arm crook and then wrapped his arms around his shoulders. As soon as all his weight was on him Quinn bolted up and started running. He was so fast Zoey and Francis had to genuinely run to keep up with him. "Keep you're eye's open okay you two? Me and Louis are gonna be a little prone."

"You got it." Zoey replied.

"This is it!" Francis yelled from behind them. Louis looked from Quinn's back to see the top of the tanker come closer, and closer until it finally slammed into the bridge with a massive crash and horrendous grinding noise. The bridge buckled and rode up over top of the deck, the screeching of thousands of tones of steel cutting through the air.

"Okay, I knew the crash was gonna be loud but, HOLY SHIT IS THAT LOUD!" Zoey yelled over all the noise. The four of them continued pelting down the water bank as fast as they could, the roar of the infected was starting to become discernible over the screeching metal.

"Did you guys find anywhere with fortifications on you're way here?" Quinn shouted.

"No! That was our biggest worry getting the bridge up!" Louis replied.

"They're coming up on us!" Francis fired his shot gun behind them taking out several infected that had raced onto the bank after them.

"I vote we jack a ship, then float out into the water, wait for this to calm down!" Quinn said trying not to think of the thousands of infected that were probably behind them.

"Works for me!" Louis nodded.

"Right, first seaworthy one we can get to then!" Zoey agreed.

"I hate ships!" Francis grumbled.

"We know Francis!" Zoey yelled back.

Zoey shot her sniper from her hip, killing several zombies in front as they came to a leg of a harbour. "That one's got a ramp!" she pointed to an old, small shipping vestal.

"Let's go for it!" Quinn yelled barrelling forward, lifting Louis slightly higher on his back as he did. Francis ran up, and pulled ahead.

"Let me handle the lead, that thing's probably crawling with freaks." Quinn nodded at him and slowed down slightly. He suddenly realized something on his left and side was coming up fast.

"Louis! Hang on!" He shouted as an infected ran for him, he twisted at the last second and shoulder checked it clean off its feet. Francis booked it up the ramp to the ship and vanished from sight for a moment, some shells fired, followed by him shouting;

"Come on! Come on!" Zoey ran up with Quinn just behind her, they had almost made it to the top when suddenly a smoker's tongue flew around Quinn's neck and shoulders, pinning Louis to him. Quinn made a gagging sound as he started being dragged backwards, fighting to stay on his feet. Zoey Fired several shots past his head in rapid succession, the tongue went slack. Quinn heaved forward with the weight of himself, Louis, and now the dead smoker pulling him back. He toppled onto the deck throwing the tongue off himself and letting Louis roll away. Flying back up to his feet, Quinn whipped the katana from his sheath so fast he severed an infected in half, clean from its arm pit to shoulder. Taking a hold just in front of the ramp he began cutting down the line of infected streaming up it.

"Francis! Get on the rudder of this thing and move us the hell away from the shore line!"

"I don't take orders from a canuck!" He yelled back gunning down an infected.

"It wasn't one! I was asking nicely!" Quinn retaliated impaling a zombie and slide kicking it off his sword.

"Sure sounded like a-"

"JUST DO IT FRANCIS!" Zoey yelled over her gun fire. "We don't have time for bull-shit! Reloading!" Francis grumbled his way over to the ships bridge, smashing his way in the window to get inside. Louis pulled himself up on a near by wooden box when something at the base of the ramp sent a chill up his spine.

"Oh shit! QUINN! CHARGER!"he yelled looking to him. Quinn, didn't have time to react, he was too busy cutting down the endless stream of monsters when suddenly a massive six and a half foot infected with a grotesquely overgrown arm came barrelling up the ramp, knocking other infected aside. It smashed into him at full force, sending both of them crashing through the wooden crates behind them. Quinn went flying along with dozens of peaces of the crates. He crashed down on the other side of the deck, losing his katana in the air somewhere along the way. Bouncing off his back he skidded over the railing barely catching it with one arm, he was now dangling over the water with no weapon, and idea where the charger was. He heard Zoey scream, and Louis call her name. The ships engines started, he could tell from the roaring the already agitated infected were now even more riled up. After swinging back and forth for a moment trying to ignore the pain in his back Quinn managed to hook his second hand on the railing and pull himself up till he was chest level with the deck. He blinked into a pair of soulless yellowing eyes... the Charger was right on top of him...


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

With a roar the Charger made to smash down on him with its oversized arm. Quinn dropped his body down and spread his hands as far as they would go while he was weightless. Its fist slammed down, denting the railing. He swung over to his left trying to get away from it but it followed him, slamming down again. Quinn released a hand to evade it, panic was starting to twinge in him. As it lined up on him a third time pistol shots came from behind it. Blood flew from its back and the Charger suddenly turned tail. As it did Quinn got his second hand back up and flew over the railing in a vault, the deck was crawling with infected that had scampered up the ship's ramp, there was no sign of Louis or Zoey. Quinn hadn't noticed, but the ship had been steadily moving forward – or at least he didn't, until it lurched with a massive jolt as the mooring lines became tight, and then snapped. Everything on deck shifted violently, and Quinn lost his footing along with just about every infected, including the Charger. Rolling on his side Quinn got to his feet, frantically looking for a weapon. The Charger started lining up on him again as it got to its feet. In desperation Quinn grabbed a wooden crate about two and a half feet across. As the Charger charged him he side stepped to its weak arm side in a blur of foot work, and smashed the crate into its face as it passed. The box fell to peaces, and the charger slammed into the bow of the ship, but it almost instantly shook its head and turned round on him. Quinn could hear Francis gunning down zombies behind him, but right now he had all his focus on the Charger. It ran at him making a swing, which he ducked under, from there he jumped forward past it, and rebounded off a large shipping crate. It one-eightied and swung again, once more Quinn ducked under it, but this time after the hook the Charger made a back fist at him, which caught him across the chest. It was like getting hit by a sack of medicine balls. Quinn went flying clean over the crates, and crashed down on top of several infected, which thankfully broke his fall. He suddenly saw Zoey, struggling to hold off three zombies simultaneously, her rifle was no where to be seen. Quinn flew to his feet and started making fast, vicious high kicks into the necks of the infected attacking her, as well as brutal punches when he could. As he was preparing a final blow the Charger reappeared from around the crates. Quinn tried to dodge away as it charged, but it half caught him mid air. Ploughing into the crates once again Quinn sputtered on the ground as the charger stood over him. The glint of something caught his eye, and he suddenly realized his katana was only a few feet from him. He strained to reach out for it, but the Charger grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air. Quinn punched it in the eye as he rose, but to no avail. Exhaling all the air he could from his lungs he braced himself as the Charger mercilessly slammed him into the deck. Quinn's ribs and back were on fire, it was like falling ten feet onto concrete with a plank across your chest, but the impact jostled the katana, causing it to roll towards him slightly. Flinging his arm out his fingers brushed the hilt, but the Charger lifted him off the ground before he could get a proper grip on it. Gridding his teeth and closing his eyes he prepared for the impact, which was worse the second time round, blotches of blackness started filling his vision, along with the burning in his chest as crashed back down to the deck. But this time round the katana bounced well into his reach, and he slammed his hand down upon the tsuka, gripping it with all his might. As it lifted him a third time Quinn took the sword in both hands and decapitated the Charger before it could move. Its body fell back limp and Quinn landed on the remains of the crating he had been pummelled into. Falling to the ground seemed like a soft kiss compared to the Charger's beating. Zoey kicked another monster away from her as a second moved in. As it came at her flank she grabbed it by the neck and twisted, throwing it overboard. She then dove to the ground, pushing a zombie's corpse over. As the first infected ran at her, she pulled her rifle out from under the bodies, and shot it at point blank. Panting she looked at the harbour's edge, hundreds of infected were running wildly around, occasionally falling into the water. She then blinked around her.

"Louis?" She shouted worriedly getting to her feet.

"I'm here! I'm okay!" He called back from the other end of the ship. She rushed over to get a gimps of him. "Francis got to me just in time." He ended motioning at the biker just behind him.

"Where's Quinn?" She blurted.

Louis looked very concerned. "I think the Charger got to him."

Zoey looked into the trail of smashed crates as she walked up. "I can see-Oh my god!" Zoey placed her rifle down and raced over to Quinn's motionless from. "Quinn?" She yelled. There was no reply. Louis followed in just behind her. "Quinn?" She placed her hand on his chest. "Quinn!" Suddenly his hand flopped down on top of her's.

"Zoey..." He moaned opening one eye, he then made a motion in the air as if he were turning a knob. "Turn it down a notch. I've got a bitch of a headache." He ended with a small grin. Everyone gave a small laugh or snicker.

"You alright?" Louis asked bracing himself on a smashed crate.

"Yep. That bastard got me good a few times, but I'm okay." Quinn replied. With a groan and a heave, he pulled himself up and got to his feet, bracing himself on his katana on the way up.

"Jesus Quinn, what is your body made of?" Louis breathed shaking his head.

"Flesh and blood that's seen more punishment then a war veteran twice my age should have." He groaned in reply clutching his chest.

"Really? I was expecting to hear 'Iron and titanium undha muscle!'." Zoey joked doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.

Quinn laughed with a small: "Ow." Clutching his ribs. He blinked out at the harbour. "Jesus, that's a shit-ton of infected."

"Yeah... Francis, I think we should kill the engine. Might help for things to calm down a bit." Louis said looking to him.

"Turn it on, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off, Jesus! Don't point a finger at what ya want me to do next your majesties. Wouldn't want ya to strain yourselves." Francis griped walking back to the bridge.

"I'll drop the anchor." Zoey said walking to the bow. Francis shut off the engine right as Zoey loosed the anchor. It splashed down with a wake burst high enough to see from the deck. Quinn walked up beside Zoey and blinked at the masses of infected.

"Do you things will ever go back to normal?" he said still scanning the harbour.

"I don't know." She replied. "I'd like to hope so but, I honestly don't know what to think after what I learned at the military base." Quinn nodded.

"I think this is just one more challenge on the road of humanity." Louis said coming up to them.

"Say what?" Quinn shot him a confused expression.

"Well, think about it. We've survived being the under dog of two rival ape descendants, an ice age, beaten the odds of a meteorite smashing into us, and all kinds of other stuff." Louis smiled at the other two. "The human race can bounce right back from this, I can see it. Europe went through the black plague and they didn't have anything close to modern medicine. If you look at that place now, you'd never know it happened."

"People with the black plague didn't rise up to kill ya though." Francis said walking up.

"Yeah, and they also didn't have so much as aspirin tablets back then." Louis replied.

Zoey laughed and then blinked at the deck for a moment. "Does this boat seem kinda familiar to you guys?" The others looked around.

"Yeah it does actually now that you mention it." Louis said scanning around.

"Aint this... uh..." Francis snapped his fingers. "Aint this the boat we found something?"

"The swords!" Zoey piped up. A glint suddenly flashed in Quinn's eyes, followed by a grin. Louis walked over to near the bridge and found a hatch to below deck.

"Oh yeah! I remember this! This is it!" he quickly threw it open and peered inside. "Looks clear. I think it was that wooden box there." he ended pointing. Quinn flew down the ladder to the wooden box, with a small splash as he touched down on the hull. Unlatching it he beamed at two pristine, forty-two inch katanas. He couldn't help but smile. Zoey followed him.

"Like those huh?" she smirked.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm more of a broad sword man, but I do... really..." Quinn trailed off looking distraught at his boots.

"What's wrong?" She asked looking concerned herself.

Quinn slowly looked up at her. "I'm standing in water..." he said softly. Zoey froze, her eyes wide with realization. Clicking the flash light on her gun on she shown it down from his feet, to the bow. There were several inches of water around his ankles, and a foot of it at the utmost end, with trickles from several places coming down the walls.

"... We're gonna sink aren't we?" she said with a sigh.

"What?" Francis and Louis shouted in unison.

"We musta bounced off the dock when the mooring lines became tight or something." Quinn replied blinking at the water.

"Yeah... or maybe the blunt force trauma was just too much for the hull." she nodded.

Quinn tapped the hilt of a katana against his chin. "At any rate, lets get back on deck. We've probably got a few hours before we have to worry."

"Great! So we're sinking now." Francis grumbled as they came up.

"Looks that way." Zoey sighed.

"Have we got a life boat?" Louis asked.

"_Had _one." Zoey replied looking at two bare pulley hooks and some dangling cables at the back of the boat.

"I hate the water." Francis growled looking over the ships edge.

"Well, uh..." Zoey readjusted her grip on her rifle. "What now?"

"Think we could make a raft from the smashed crates?" Louis proposed.

"Can't hurt to try." Quinn replied. "In the mean time let's, get the anchor up." he placed his two new katanas down and walked for the bridge.

"And then what?" Francis asked.

Quinn walked up to the ships wheel and started turning it to port. "We hope the rudder, and the easterly wind is enough to get us over to the far bank before we sink."

"And if we don't?" Francis crossed his arms.

"Then we're gonna have a lot more then just zombies to worry about..."

"_Just _zombies? There's gotta be hundreds if not thousands of them over there from the noise by now." Francis thumbed at the far bank. "Even if we did get there before we sunk, we'd be paddling off o' diarrhoea creek, only to step onto a bigger shit pavilion."

"Then let's hope things have calmed down by night fall well we're at it." Louis said looking out onto the hordes of infected that lined the water banks.

"Like I said. We're doomed." Francis sighed.

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_Sorry for the delay everyone! Had some gym courses and the log in errors on slowed me down a bit, but Chapter 9 is in the works! Feel free to review and all that malarky!_


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